This is a rather short chapter, the next chapter will be heavy on the the fight scenes. So I really hope you look forward to it. Please let me know how the chapter is via a review. The next chapter will more likely be posted in the next two weeks due to Naruto d20 planning. But I assure you all that I will finish this story. I really hope you like it. Enjoy

Chapter 13

Bargaining Chip

They soon left for the field, all the while Kushina and Tsubaki started to prep Sakura for the extraction that would happen tomorrow morning. Ino, Kai, and Naruto walked down the trail to hunt down the herbs and roots. Kai would inform the two-leaf ninja that the reason behind gathering the herbs and roots was to boil them in water to create a special tea for Sakura to drink.

Kai knew how Ino was knowledgeable Ino was with flowers so she would be perfect for this. Naruto was here just as muscle in case any threat would emerge. Naruto wanted to be there for Sakura while they started to prepare her for the ritual early tomorrow. But knew that he didn't want to stress her. They soon arrive at the location as described on the map.

"We're here, let's get started," Ino said, putting down the bag and looking at the information that Tsubaki provided. "Seems like the herb we have to look for is known as Red Thyme and the root is known as the Sacred root."

"Quite a name for a root if you ask me?" Naruto said, with a questionable look.

"Well no one's asking you Naruto," Ino said.

"Hey!" Naruto said, with Ino chuckling.

The three of them soon started to get to work. Naruto volunteered to use Shadow Clones to help dig for the root, Kai looked at some of the bushes and cut the thyme from the branches, and Ino pointed out areas for Naruto to dig up. They would finally gather up enough to make the tea.

"We may have gotten more than needed, but this should work," Kai said, with a bushel of roots and herbs in a bag.

"Alright then guys, let's start heading back to the cabin," Ino said, leading the charge.

As the three of them started to head back to the cabin, something caught Kai's attention. He could sense that the three of them were not alone at the moment. Without missing a note, Kai scooped Ino into his arms, and Naruto leaped out of the way as a giant fireball hit the ground where they were, incinerating the area around them.

"Ino are you alright?" Kai asked her, she nodded her head holding him tight. "How about you Naruto?"

"Fine, but it appears we upset someone?" Naruto said as Kagome appeared in front of them.

"Damn it, missed the blonde bitch." Kagome said, beating herself up mentally.

"You just don't know when to quit don't you, I thought Sakura blew you two away," Ino screamed at them.

"We were hoping the pink-haired bitch was here, but since she isn't I guess we will just have to kill you three and then maybe that will dredge her out of hiding," Kagome said, cracking her knuckles.

"Ino go find somewhere to hide, we'll take care of them," Kai said as Ino walked up beside him and Naruto.

"If you boys don't mind, I wouldn't mind joining in the fight," Ino said, as Naruto laughed.

"I don't mind, more the merrier." Naruto laughed.

At Tsubaki's cabin, the preparations were underway. Tsubaki prepared some special ink to paint on Sakura's body. This ink was a blend of her chakra and a unique sealing ink. Kushina and Itachi started to lay down candles and stones in a pattern.

"Alright Sakura, come out, and let's start prepping you for tomorrow," Tsubaki said, as Sakura was mentally prepared for the preparation. "Come over to the table and I'll start to apply the paint and scry on you deary."

Sakura laid on the table and she started to paint runes on her body. A few circles on the top of her feet, lines on her legs, and a spiral on her belly with a triangle on 4 corners. Some diamonds on her hands and lines on her arms. Lines under her eyes and an arrow on her forehead.

"These markings will stay on your body for the entire week. So we'll be ready for tomorrow." Tsubaki said.

"Hey Tsubaki, I was curious if this is gonna be painful?" Sakura asked her.

"I mean extracting Ashimaru from you will be the painful part, but the markings will not be at all. Don't worry this isn't my first time extracting things from people."

"Umm… I guess then I shouldn't be too worried." Sakura said, with a tinge of worry.

The battle was intense, this time Kagome wasn't fairing too well. Naruto and Kai have been outschooling her due to their training. She grabs some of the dirt on the ground and slams it back on the ground due to her frustration. Her eyes looked around and saw her other hiding.

"DAMN YOU KEIKO, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" She screamed internally.

Ino with a kunai in her hand that had an explosive tag, Kai with a sword in his hand with a cold look in his eyes, and Naruto with a clone that had a Rasengan.

"It's time for you to surrender, if you don't you will know what it feels to be a firework," Ino said, as she was prepping to throw the kunai at her.

Kagome wasn't going to go out like a piece of trash. She quickly thought of a plan. A smile on her face soon blossomed, and she prepared some tags on her body. She was going out on her terms, and she knew of the perfect person to share in her pleasure. With a quick move of her hand, she threw a smoke pellet on the ground and she moved to grab the one person she knew she could grab without much effort, that being the Yamanaka Girl. As soon as the smoke cleared, she had Ino in a tight hug.

"INO!" Kai screamed, he would prepare his sword to do battle. "Don't worry Ino, I'm coming!"

"Not so fast lover boy, now we're going to play negotiation. Now you are going to bring Pinky to a series of caves northwest here. Or else I'm not afraid to blow both of us up to bits."

Ino tried her best to break free from her grip but she had her locked and with the paper bombs attached to her could go off in a few moments.

"Kai-Kun, Naruto, tell everyone I'm sorry I was useless," Ino said, with a defeated tone as Keiko appeared and the three girls vanished with a thicker smoke bomb.

Kai leaped into the thick smoke and no sign of them. He couldn't find them, he couldn't sense them. They were gone, and they had the love of his life. Kai shook with anger.

"DAMN!" He yelled out loud with pure anger. He then slammed his sword on the ground. "God Damn it, not again!"

Naruto walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Kai, relax, we'll save Ino. We'll have to inform everyone what just occurred." Naruto said to his friend. "Come on, we have to hurry."

"Your right Naruto, let's get going!"

Kai looked back at where Ino was abducted and left with Naruto.

Sakura could feel something was off, she could feel like someone had vanished. Kushina caught on to this.

"What's up Sakura?"

"I don't know Kushina, I have a deep feeling something feels off." She said, with a weird feeling in her gut.

"Maybe it's just pre day jitters." Kushina said, calming Sakura down. "Besides, Naruto, Kai, and Ino should be back soon."

"Alright Kushina, I'll just put it in the back of my mind."

It was at that time Naruto and Kai burst through the door.

"Hey guys, about time you got back, where's Ino?" Sakura asked the both of them.

"It was terrible, Keiko came back for a fight but unfortunately for us, they kidnapped Ino." Naruto said. "Now they want Sakura in exchange for her life."

"So they're using Ino as bait?" Kushina asked, she saw how mad Kai was. "So, where are they hiding her?"

"On the coast, there are a series of caves, they said that's where we have to bring her," Kai said, fuming with rage. "I can't lose her, I just can't"

"Don't worry Kai, we'll think of a plan," Naruto said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Here's what we're gonna do. If they want me… they got me!" She said, with a shaken fury in her voice.

"Are you sure about this Sakura?" Naruto asked his girlfriend.

"This ends right here and right now. I'm tired of these assholes constantly going after people I love."

"Then we have to go right now, if the girl's life is in trouble, then they will probably try to kill her soon," Itachi said.

Tsubaki soon entered the room.

"You be careful out there. Sakura needs to be at 100 percent for the ritual to work. So for the love of god, do not over do it. You got it?"

"Don't worry Tsubaki-Sensei, we'll be back soon." Kai said, reassuring her.

In one of the caves where they were to perform the exchange, two women dropped a bound and gagged Ino on the ground. She walked up to the scared girl and looked her dead in the eye.

"You just better hope your friends keep their promises, because I wouldn't want to do anything I could regret. Especially it was you who took control of Keiko's body back at that village you call home."

"Kagome, I really don't think we should of kidnapped her. Please can't we just let her go and flee here. Like I said, we could start over since we have this chance Kagome!" Keiko once again appealed to her.

"Once master has the pink haired girl, we will do what you requested. But until then, keep an eye on the girl while we wait for her friends." Kagome barked at her.

Ino tried to struggle, but the chakra ropes that restrained her were too good. The tears were forming in her eyes. She didn't want this to happen. In her mind, she was blaming herself for the predicament she was caught in. She closed her eyes and saw two people dear to her. She saw her best friend Sakura, and flashed back to the memories of them repairing the broken friendship that was caused by their one-sided crush on Sasuke.

And the other was of the man who captured her heart, Kai. The short time they spent together was some of the greatest moments of her life. She hoped that she could get free to be with him and spend her life with him. She slowly closed her eyes and would pray to whatever deity would hear her. And then to the love of her life.

"Kai-Kun, please save me!"

The others soon made their way towards the cave, Sakura like a burst of lightning ran further ahead of the others.

"Hey Sakura-Hime, slow down, I really doubt they would do anything to harm Ino," Naruto said, catching up with her. "We have to stick together."

"I know Naruto, but the uncertainty of what may happen." She said when Naruto looked at her.

"I know how you feel right now Sakura. With Akatsuki after me, it's the same type of uncertainty. And knowing they could target you and all of my friends, makes me so mad. But I know that if we unify our efforts, we can stop them from succeeding in their evil plan."

Sakura looked over at Naruto and she smiled. He returned the smile with one of his own. Sakura started to emit the dark chakra and her eyes soon turned gold and her hair change into a darker pink. This made her go faster than before.

"She much be impatient, this may be a bit harder for me to keep up." Naruto said, trying to keep up with her. "Wait Sakura, I may have an idea."

"What is it?" Sakura asked, as she stopped so Naruto could catch up with her. He began to whisper in her ear. And then she began to chuckle a bit. "Do you think it could work?"

"I'm pretty sure it will." He said, giving her a wink and a grin.

"Alright Naruto-Kun, let's do it." They said as they waited for everyone.

Naruto would go over the plan with everyone. And they agreed with it.

"How much farther is the location anyways?" Kai asked everyone.

"The cave system should be coming in a short bit, I can feel their chakra signatures." Itachi said

"Then I guess it's almost show time," Kushina said, as everyone would then move out again to the location.

The sound of footprints soon caught Ino's attention. She mummbled through her gag, hoping that whoever was approaching her was going to free her. But it's Keiko, in her hand is a bottle of water. Keiko soon removed the gag to give her some water.

"Ino was it? I'm so sorry that we have to bring you into this. I never wanted this to happen." Keiko whispered, with Ino looking so pissed.

"Well you did, the fact that you are after my best friend doesn't make me like you any more or any less." She hissed, glaring at her.

"Like I said, I'm so sorry for what we did to you and your friends. But the man who resurrected us is forcing us to go through with it." She said, with her body trembling with fright.

Ino looked at her, she could see the terror in her body motions.

"Explain to me then, how did you get here?"

Keiko then would tell Ino about their young days before their demise. They came from a ninja village that was destroyed years ago, It was a ninja village ran entirely by kunoichi. Keiko and Kagome were two of the best kunoichi in the village. They would help out where ever they would be beckoned but then one day, a mysterious group of rogue ninjas arrived in the village. They robbed and pillaged the villagers. They would slaughter the inhabitants of the village. Keiko and Kagome would do battle with the group, they took down a nice amount of the ninja but found their leader, a man named Vicious would kill them without any effort.

It was when Shinku would use the forbidden seal to bring both of them back to life. They pledged to serve him until Ashimaru was in his possession once again.

Ino was sad for their demise, but the fact they were after Sakura and have her captive, was kind of a moot point to her.

"You could probably get Sakura to help you out if that's the case. She helped Kushina break free from his hold, I'm sure she could help you as well." Ino brought up.

"Maybe, but I guess we would have to see." Keiko said, getting up from her seat and applying the gag over Ino's mouth again. "I'm sorry for gagging you again, but that's all the talking for now. Ino screamed into her gag as Keiko soon left.

They soon arrived at the cave system, gigantic waves were crashing on the rock formations. It was so beautiful, you couldn't tell that this was gonna be the scene of a fierce battle in a short bit.

"I'm here, so show yourselves and bring Ino with you." Sakura screamed, with fierce anger.

Kagome brought the bound and gagged Ino out in her arms, she mumbled Kai and Sakura's names. Trying to tell them to forget about her.

"Aww, sorry you couldn't hear her calling for your names. But the gag was necessary, such a loud mouth she is." She takes out a kunai and presses it against her neck. "But now comes the important part, pinky, slowly start making your way over here and I will remove some of the rope and she will be free to go."

Sakura started to walk towards Kagome, With each footstep Kagome kept her word, she started with the ropes on her arms, another step led to the ropes on her ankles, another set of steps led to the ropes on her wrists, and last but not least the final steps lead to the gag being removed. Ino ran into the arms of Kai.

"Kai-Kun, oh my god I was so scarred!" She screamed, with tears running down her face.

"I know Ino, I know, now your safe." He said, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead.

"Now that the deal is done, we have the girl in our possession." She laughed loudly.

But then as Kagome went to grab Sakura, it would disappear as it was a shadow clone made by Naruto.

"What the hell?" She screamed, while Naruto loudly laughed.

"Fooled you!" He chuckled.

"But how? How the hell did you do that?" Kagome screamed at Naruto.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu, it's my best technique."

Kagome has had enough of them. She was ready to lunge at them. As everyone else was ready to do battle with her. They heard the sound of a voice behind them.

"Kagome you failure, you mean to tell me that you were fooled by a clone jutsu?" The voice said. Kagome looked over and was scared. "You're pretty much done, now it's our turn. And the master really wants to talk to you and your waste of space teammate."

"Toma and Ogre, why are they here?"

"Who are you two, more party guests I assume?" Naruto screamed.

When Ogre landed on the ground in front of them, it created a small earthquake. Toma jumped and bounced off Ogre like a trampoline.

"Shall we kill them all?" Ogre said, taking the gigantic club off his back.

"Now Ogre, be civilized, it's the pink-haired girl we're after. Leave her alone, but kill the rest." He said, adjusting his tie.

"Careful everyone, their chakra is quite massive," Itachi said, preparing for battle.

"Ino-Chan, hide somewhere, I don't want you to get hurt," Kai said, drawing out his sword.

"That sounds like a good idea. Kai, please don't die on me!" She said, exchanging a quick kiss with him and she ran to stay out of the line of fire.

Sakura charged the chakra that Ashimaru provided her, and her hair turned completely black. With a firey aura surrounding her.

"Come on, let's go!" Sakura said as everyone would rush in to do battle with these new enemies.

Elsewhere, Shinku got up from his seat and started to make his way to the door, one of his loyal followers approached him.

"Sir, do you think it's wise that you should leave at this time? I mean from our reports Toma and Ogre just arrived where the girl was spotted?"

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." He said, grabbing the cloak that he wore years ago and heading out the door.